It is not an arrogant government that chooses priorities, it's an irresponsible government that fails to choose.

But as I always say to people I'm essentially a public service person.

The purpose of terrorism lies not just in the violent act itself. It is in producing terror. It sets out to inflame, to divide, to produce consequences which they then use to justify further terror.

I'm one of these people that, once you have had your election and you have elected your candidate, let's see what actually happens.

The first rule in politics is that there are no rules, at least not in the sense of inevitable defeats or inevitable victories. If you have the right policy and the right strategy, you always have a chance of winning. Without them, you can lose no matter how certain the victory seems.

One of the most important things in politics is you've got to keep your mind infinitely curious and alive to what is happening differently.

It [the intelligence service] concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes, including against his own Shia population; and that he is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability.